Electronic components such as rectifiers, transistors, photo transistors, computer chips, and the like require extremely high purity monocrystalline silicon. In commercial processes this monocrystalline silicon is prepared by first forming polycrystalline silicon (also referred to herein as polysilicon) ingots by chemical vapor deposition of silanes onto a heated silicon element. These polycrystalline silicon ingots are then converted into monocrystalline silicon by various methods.
During the overall process, the polycrystalline silicon bodies are cleaned to reduce contaminates that the bodies are subjected to during the overall process. One manner of cleaning includes placing the polycrystalline silicon bodies within a wash bench chamber that is configured to place the polycrystalline silicon bodies in contact with an acid or other fluid well-suited to clean the bodies. During such a process, polysilicon chips are produced. The polysilicon chips are valuable in the aggregate and various attempts have been made to recapture the smaller chips that settle at the bottom of the wash bench chamber. Such efforts have been made manually by scooping the chips or with the use of a vacuum or the like to reclaim the chips.
The above-noted manual chip reclamation processes inherently lead to a less than optimal yield, as some chips cannot be reclaimed in this manner. The processes also require maintenance personnel, which increases cost and poses safety issues that must be addressed. Furthermore, as with any manual process, certain contaminating effects must be considered.